---
title: Kenya Government Surrender Pass for Mau Mau Fighters (1955)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kenya-mau-mau-surrender-pass-1955/
description: 'A red safe-conduct pass headed ''Mwigito wa Kwihonokia Ukineana'' carries the same offer in English, Kikuyu and Swahili: the bearer wishes to surrender and…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Kenya Government Surrender Pass for Mau Mau Fighters (1955)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kenya-mau-mau-surrender-pass-1955.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kenya-mau-mau-surrender-pass-1955.jpg)

# Kenya Government Surrender Pass for Mau Mau Fighters (1955)

A red safe-conduct pass headed 'Mwigito wa Kwihonokia Ukineana' carries the same offer in English, Kikuyu and Swahili: the bearer wishes to surrender and is to get fair treatment, food and medical care, and will not be prosecuted for Emergency offences committed before 18 January 1955. Only the terms on offer are stated (detention is mentioned but not its length or conditions), and the offer is underwritten by the printed names and signatures of the Commander-in-Chief and the Governor.

- **Date:** 1955
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** Kenya colonial government (Governor Sir Evelyn Baring and Gen. Sir George Erskine), printed for the Department of Information, Kenya
- **Region:** [Sub-Saharan Africa](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=sub-saharan-africa)
- **Country:** [Kenya Colony](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=kenya-colony)
- **Medium:** [Leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=leaflet)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Kenya Colonial Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=kenya-colonial-administration)
- **Leader:** [Evelyn Baring](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=evelyn-baring)
- **Audience:** [Enemy forces](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=enemy-forces)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism)
- **Event:** [Mau Mau Uprising](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=mau-mau-uprising)
- **Techniques:** [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mau_Mau_safe_conduct_pass.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Photograph CC BY 3.0 (Brigade Piron); 1955 Kenya Government print, Crown copyright expired Photograph by Brigade Piron, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; pass printed by the Government Printer, Nairobi, 1955

## Text on the object

Original (Kikuyu, English and Swahili) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
[handwritten, upper margin, largely illegible:] Forwarded by Sgt [illegible] B.E.M. formerly [illegible] now with [illegible]

Ungikoruo wonia mundu o wothe wa Mbutu cia Ugitiri Bathi ino, niekumenya urenda kwineana na niegugutuga kuringana na kiiraniro giki kieru

MWIGITO WA KWIHONOKIA UKINEANA

THE BEARER OF THIS PASS WISHES TO SURRENDER. He is to be given fair treatment, food, and medical attention if required. He will be detained but he is NOT to be prosecuted for any offence connected with the Emergency which he may have committed prior to 18th January, 1955.

UYU UKUUITE "BATHI" ino arenda kwineana. Niatugwo wega, aheo irio na arigitwo angikoruo ni abatairio niguo. Ahingiruo na ndagacirithio ni undu wa uuru o wothe wa Mau Mau uria ekire mbere ya January 18, mwaka wa 1955.

ANAYEBEBA BARUA HII ANATAKA KUJITOLEA. Mpe msaada mwema, chakula, na atibiwe ikiwa anahitaji. Atafungiwa lakini hatashtakiwa kwa ajili ya uovu wo wote wa Mau Mau aliofanya mbele ya January 18, mwaka huu wa 1955.

[signature] GENERAL SIR GEORGE ERSKINE.
Commander-in-Chief.
[signature] SIR EVELYN BARING,
Governor.

PRINTED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION, KENYA, BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER, NAIROBI
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
[Kikuyu, top line, approximate:] If you show this pass to any member of the security forces, he will know that you want to surrender and ... [remainder unclear]. [Kikuyu paragraph, approximate:] The bearer of this pass wants to surrender. He is to be treated well, given food and looked after if he needs it. He will be detained and will not be prosecuted for any Mau Mau wrongdoing done before 18 January 1955. [Swahili paragraph:] The bearer of this letter wants to give himself up. Give him good help, food, and let him be treated if he needs it. He will be detained but will not be prosecuted for any Mau Mau wrongdoing he committed before 18 January this year, 1955. [English blocks are already in English.]
```

Photographed behind glass, so glare softens some letters; the Kikuyu and Swahili wording is transcribed as it appears and may contain letter errors. The handwritten note at the top is a later annotation in cursive and is not reliably readable. The Kikuyu translation is a rough machine rendering by Claude, not checked by a fluent Kikuyu reader; the Swahili rendering is close to the English block.

[← A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/frank-statement-1954/) [Bỏ phiếu cho nhà cách mạng Ngô-Đình-Diệm (Vote for the Revolutionary Ngo Dinh Diem) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vote-for-diem-revolutionary-1955/)

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- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [La paz según el Perú – La paz según los chilenos (Peace According to Peru, Peace According to the Chileans)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-paz-segun-el-peru-el-banquillo-1880/) (Jun 12, 1880 · Card stacking)
- [Remember the Maine! And Don't Forget the Starving Cubans! (Judge)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/remember-the-maine-starving-cubans-judge-1898/) (May 7, 1898 · Card stacking)
- ["A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo's Ambition" (commercial stereograph, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sacrifice-to-aguinaldos-ambition-1899/) (1899 · Card stacking, Name-calling). Content note: Photograph of two dead Filipino soldiers.
- ["England and the War in South Africa" (Der wahre Jacob, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-and-capitalism-der-wahre-jacob-1899/) (Dec 5, 1899 · Card stacking, Scapegoating)
- ["Kill Every One Over Ten" (New York Evening Journal, 1902)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kill-every-one-over-ten-1902/) (May 5, 1902 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Blindfolded Filipino children before a firing squad.